Today's work involved finishing the dumping centre grate. It has a stand and a sloping ledge in the ashpan that it sits on (so the ash falls off).
After the brazing work on the ashpan, the ashpan and boiler were assembled to the loco frame and trailing truck installed. The grates inserted up through the trailing truck frames and into the boiler, sitting on the ledge either side of centre. The centre grate portion was then installed into position using the new designed stand.
All worked very well and I thought it was a very easy matter to be able to install and remove grates. The stand on the centre grate required a loop on the bottom of the stand to hook it with a fire poker and pull it off the ledge. So the bits were removed and a bit of stainless rod was welded to the stand. Again another trial fit proved successful.
The ashpan seems to be structurally finished at least for now. A couple of brackets are required on the outside to hold various valves but these can be done with thru holes and nuts on the inside. Of course there is the damper lever and rod which will dummy up to the running board, none of that works or is hinged, it won't be highly obvious in the scheme of things.
The ashpan needs a sand blast and a good couple of coats of hi temp paint. It's steel and in the rust zone for sure, I didn't think I could do the amount of fab neatly in stainless!
Below are some pics of how it ended up looking. The views on the loco are looking up from below the trailing truck.
I definitely think the centre portion held up by a stand is an alternative for future designs.
Happy steaming!
Nigel
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